on would be fought for the remainder of the twentieth century. The emphasis was on interdiction of shipments, with some effort directed toward reducing demand through harsh sentences for violators. Only in the last two decades of the previous century was there a shift toward decreasing demand for drugs (although spending on enforcement remained steady during that time). Drug control efforts for fiscal 2002 at the federal level will cost more than $19.2 billion and involve more than 50 programs and federal agencies. Drug offenders account for 21 percent of inmates in state prison, and nearly 60 percent of inmates in federal penitentiaries. Critics of the war on drugs suggest that these costs, both financial and social, are simply too high for the country to bear much longer (Cannon 2595).
Drug use and abuse declined during the 1940s and 1950s, but surged during the 1960s. During this time, new drugs were developed that were based not only on traditional plants (marijuana and cocaine), but which were highly processed and created in labs. Thus coca yielded not only powder cocaine, which had a high street value and was not accessible to many would be consumers, but also crack cocaine. This was a much less expensive alternative that was available to those without significant financial resources. At the same time, some drugs were developed (such as methamphetemine) which are developed entirely in laboratories. The Nixon administration focused on cutting off foreign supplies, particularly supplies of Turkish heroin. Although this effort largely succeeded in its stated goals, the result was that the supply and demand shifted, so that as heroin from the Middle East ceased to be a significant problem, Latin American cocaine became more popular ("The Annals" 21).
Ronald Reagan's administration aggressively pursued a strategy of stopping drugs at the border, a tactic that was perceived as inefficient and unsuccessful. The Clinton ...